The Shamrock Summit was the colloquial name given to the March 17–18, 1985 meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and US President Ronald Reagan in Quebec City. It gained this nickname because of the Irish background of the two leaders and because the meeting started on St. Patrick's Day. The summit was capped by a televised gala, which ended with Mulroney, Reagan and their wives singing "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling", which publicly exemplified the camaraderie between the two leaders.
Carmen Lombardo was lead saxophonist and featured vocalist for his brother Guy Lombardo's orchestra. He was also a successful composer. In 1927, Carmen Lombardo was the vocalist of the hit record Charmaine, performed by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians.
Gary Evan Crosby was an American actor and singer. His parents were Bing Crosby, of whom he wrote a highly critical memoir, and the singer and actress Dixie Lee.
"Pretty Baby" is a song written by Tony Jackson during the Ragtime era. The song was remembered as being prominent in Jackson's repertory before he left New Orleans in 1912, but was not published until 1916.
Dixie Lee was an American actress, dancer, and singer. She was the first wife of singer Bing Crosby.
"It's a Great Day for the Irish" is an Irish-American song that was written in 1940 by Roger Edens, one of the many musical directors at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios under the leadership of Arthur Freed for inclusion in the film version of the George M. Cohan 1922 Broadway show Little Nellie Kelly, directed by Norman Taurog. The rights of the show were sold to MGM by Cohan as a starring vehicle for Judy Garland. The song was partly written to capitalize on Garland's identification with her Irish roots. The new song was to be used in a recreation of New York's famed annual Saint Patrick's Day Parade marching up Fifth Avenue. It was to be a major production number requiring the New York Street set on the backlot to be enlarged, involving the main characters of the film and showcasing Garland's enormously strong voice and engaging performance style as she sang and danced up the avenue with her father, played by George Murphy, her stereotypical grandfather and her boyfriend. The movie was well received, but is now most remembered for the rousing song it introduced into Irish-American culture and as Garland's only death scene on film.
"Moonlight Bay" is a popular song. It is commonly referred to as "On Moonlight Bay". The lyrics were written by Edward Madden, the music by Percy Wenrich, and was published in 1912. It is often sung in a barbershop quartet style. Early successful recordings in 1912 were by the American Quartet and by Dolly Connolly.
"Only Forever" is a song popularized in 1940 by Bing Crosby. It reached number one on the Billboard charts on October 19, 1940 and spent nine weeks in that position during a 20-week stay in the charts. "Only Forever" was written by James V. Monaco and Johnny Burke, initially intended for the 1940 Crosby film If I Had My Way, but it was eventually used in Crosby's next film project, Rhythm on the River and the song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
"Galway Bay" is the name of at least two different songs.
Harry Barris was an American popular singer and songwriter. He was one of the earliest singers to use "scat singing" in recordings. Barris, one of Paul Whiteman's Rhythm Boys, along with Bing Crosby and Al Rinker, scatted on several songs, including "Mississippi Mud," which Barris wrote in 1927.
Meadow Court was a British-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. He won the Irish Derby and the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 1965.
"Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral " is a classic Irish-American song that was written in 1913 by composer James Royce Shannon (1881–1946) for the Tin Pan Alley musical Shameen Dhu. The original recording of the song, by Chauncey Olcott, peaked at #1 on the music charts. The song was brought back to prominence by Bing Crosby's performance in 1944's Going My Way. Crosby's single sold over a million copies and peaked at #4 on the Billboard music charts.
"It's the Same Old Shillelagh" is an Irish novelty song written by Pat White. Its subject is a young Irish-American who inherits his father's shillelagh. The composer himself recorded this song on May 25, 1927 for Victor Records, and the record was distributed through the Yorkville Phonograph Shop in New York City. RCA Victor pressed the record, but it carried a custom "Yorkville" label.
"The Rose of Tralee" is a nineteenth-century Irish ballad about a woman called Mary, who because of her beauty was called The Rose of Tralee. The Rose of Tralee International Festival had been inspired by the ballad.
Top o' the Morning is a 1949 American romantic comedy film directed by David Miller and starring Bing Crosby, Ann Blyth, and Barry Fitzgerald. Written by Edmund Beloin and Richard L. Breen, the film is about a singing insurance investigator who comes to Ireland to recover the stolen Blarney Stone—and romance the local policeman's daughter.
This is a list of Bing Crosby songs he recorded twice or more during his career, excluding all of the 1954 re-recordings for Bing: A Musical Autobiography.
St. Patrick's Day is a compilation album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby released in 1947 featuring songs with an Irish theme. This includes one of Crosby's most-beloved songs, "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral" which was number four on the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks, and topped the Australian charts for an entire month, on shellac disc record. This version, the 1945 re-recording, was released earlier in another Crosby album, Selections from Going My Way.
Bing Crosby's Treasury – The Songs I Love is an LP set recorded in 1965 and issued by a mail-order firm, The Longines Symphonette Society, an educational service of the Longines-Wittnauer Watch Company.
Bing Crosby's Treasury - The Songs I Love is an LP set issued in both mono and stereo formats by a mail-order firm, The Longines Symphonette Society, an educational service of the Longines-Wittnauer Watch Company. A similar LP set had been issued in 1966, see Bing Crosby's Treasury - The Songs I Love, and this updated version had a total of thirty-six Bing Crosby vocals.
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling is a Decca Records album by Bing Crosby of songs with an Irish theme. It was issued as a 10” LP as catalog No.DL 5403. Some of the songs had earlier been issued as a 3-disc 45rpm set (9-89).
